Readers may remember Charlotte Allen’s September 12, 2016, cover story on high-speed rail in the Golden State: “Bullet Train to Nowhere: The Ultimate California Boondoggle.” Allen memorably visited “a 1,600-foot viaduct spanning the Fresno River on the rural outskirts of Madera,” which was just about the only construction then taking place on a system projected to one day stretch over 500 miles. “The bullet-train project has moved more slowly—far more slowly—than its boosters anticipated,” she reported.
So we were, shall we say, unsurprised at the January 16 headline in the Los Angeles Times: “California bullet train cost surges by $2.8 billion: ‘Worst-case scenario has happened.’ ”
Reporter Ralph Vartabedian, who has done yeoman work on this beat for years, provided the details:
If you didn’t see this coming, The Scrapbook has a railway viaduct it would like to sell you.
